Chapter 5
Federal authorities moved Claire, Eli, and me to a protected facility outside Illinois.
Mason remained behind during questioning.
He had not helped his father.
But security procedures required investigators to examine everything.
Losing him felt like losing the last person I trusted from my old life.
Claire noticed.
“You can miss someone without ignoring the risk.”
“I know.”
“You say that often now.”
“Because you are often painfully correct.”
She almost smiled.
The toxin had not reached the baby in dangerous amounts.
Doctors ordered bed rest for several days.
I remained outside Claire’s room unless she invited me.
That boundary became important.
My instinct was to place guards around her, choose doctors, inspect food, and control every door.
Protection could become another cage.
So I asked.
“Do you want me inside?”
“Yes.”
“Do you want Mason replaced?”
“Temporarily.”
“Do you want to know every security detail?”
“No. I want one independent person who does.”
Agent Brooks assigned a female marshal Claire selected.
The choices belonged to her.
Eli adjusted badly to the move.
He cried at night and refused bottles from strangers.
Claire soothed him despite exhaustion.
“He thinks I’m his mother,” she whispered.
“He remembers who saved him.”
“Attachment is more complicated than gratitude.”
“What does he need?”
“Consistency.”
I took the night shift.
The first night, Eli screamed for forty minutes.
I walked with him until my arms ached.
Men once lowered their eyes when I entered rooms.
A six-month-old remained unimpressed.
Claire watched from bed.
“Support his head.”
“I am supporting it.”
“You’re holding him like evidence.”
I adjusted my arms.
Eli finally settled against my chest.
His breath warmed my collar.
“I never held Nathan enough when we were children,” I said.
“You were younger.”
“He protected me.”
“And you loved him.”
“I followed him everywhere.”
Claire looked at Eli.
“Then give his son something different from revenge.”
That became my purpose.
Bianca refused to cooperate.
She admitted nothing despite the recording.
Her attorney claimed the bank-vault confession was coerced because she believed we were in danger.
The crash video was harder to explain.
She called it manipulated.
Experts authenticated it.
Samuel Reed admitted forging Mason’s signature and helping Vincent poison Claire.
He claimed Vincent threatened Mason.
Investigators found payments proving Samuel had worked with him for years.
Mason listened to his father’s confession.
Then he requested a meeting with me.
“I should resign.”
“Did you know?”
“No.”
“Did you ignore signs?”
Mason looked down.
“My father kept asking about Eli’s routes. I thought he missed working.”
“Why didn’t you report it?”
“Because he was my father.”
Family again.
The word had hidden more danger than any enemy’s name.
“You failed,” I said.
“Yes.”
“So did I.”
“That doesn’t make me safe to lead security.”
He was right.
Mason resigned and became a government witness.
I did not punish him for choosing accountability.
An independent firm took over protection.
Claire’s accountant instincts helped locate Vincent.
The forged invoices used routing numbers linked to a dormant company in Milwaukee.
One payment covered a private aircraft hangar.
Federal agents surrounded it.
They found fuel, weapons, and false passports.
Vincent had left hours earlier.
A handwritten plan listed two targets.
The protected residence.
And Cook County Jail, where Bianca awaited trial.
Vincent intended to free his mother.
Or silence her.
Brooks moved Bianca without public notice.
During transport, an armored truck struck the convoy.
Masked men opened fire.
No officers were killed.
Bianca’s vehicle escaped.
Security footage later showed her climbing into Vincent’s truck willingly.
He had rescued her.
Two hours later, Bianca called me.
“Come home, Gabriel.”
“You don’t have a home anymore.”
“I am still your mother.”
“You murdered my brother.”
“Nathan planned to surrender everything to federal agents.”
“He wanted Eli safe.”
“He wanted to destroy the Kane name.”
“You did that.”
Her breathing sharpened.
“Vincent can rebuild.”
“Not with my cooperation.”
“You are giving strangers our businesses.”
“I’m returning stolen power.”
“You sound like Claire.”
“That is a compliment.”
Bianca’s voice became cold.
“Bring the flash drive and Nathan’s original will to the old cathedral.”
“No.”
“Then speak to Mason.”
A man cried out in the background.
Mason’s voice came through the phone.
“Don’t come.”
Bianca had taken him after his federal interview.
“Proof of life,” she said. “Midnight.”
The call ended.
Brooks wanted to track the next contact.
I wanted to go immediately.
Claire insisted we plan.
“Mason told you not to come.”
“He would come for me.”
“That does not make walking into a trap intelligent.”
“He is there because his father betrayed him.”
“And Eli is alive because Mason protected him.”
Her hand covered mine.
“Honor that by surviving the rescue.”
The cathedral had belonged to my father’s organization.
Hidden tunnels connected it to abandoned buildings.
I gave Brooks every map.
Federal teams surrounded all exits.
I carried a duplicate drive and copied will.
Claire remained at the protected residence.
Before I left, she stopped me.
“If you die, I will not raise your child inside a revenge story.”
“I’m coming back.”
“Don’t promise what you cannot control.”
I touched her face.
“Then I promise I will choose returning over vengeance.”
She kissed me once.
It was not forgiveness for the morning I pushed her away.
It was not permission to own her future.
It was a reason to keep my promise.
At midnight, I entered the cathedral alone.
Mason knelt near the altar with his hands bound.
Blood darkened his collar.
Bianca stood beside him.
Vincent remained in the shadows.
“You brought the drive?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“The will?”
“Yes.”
“Place them on the altar.”
I obeyed.
Mason shook his head.
“They’re going to kill you.”
Bianca touched his shoulder.
“Your father begged for your life. You should be grateful.”
“Where is Samuel?” I asked.
Vincent smiled.
“He became emotional.”
“You killed him.”
“He chose Mason over us.”
Bianca showed no reaction.
Another loyal person discarded.
“You called Vincent your only strong son,” I said. “How long before he decides you’re emotional too?”
Her eyes moved toward him.
A small fracture appeared.
Vincent raised his gun.
“Enough.”
Federal agents waited for my signal.
But a child cried somewhere below us.
Eli.
My blood froze.
“That’s a recording,” I said.
Vincent smiled.
“Is it?”
A monitor flickered on beside the altar.
Live video showed Claire’s protected room.
Her bed was empty.
A guard lay unconscious near the door.
Vincent had another team inside the facility.
Then Claire appeared on-screen.
Her hands were tied.
A man held a gun behind her.
Vincent leaned closer.
“You thought the cathedral was the trap.”
My phone rang.
May you like
The man beside Claire spoke.
“Trade locations now, or Gabriel watches both his children die.”
